We have a lot of great things in the South. Southern Fried Chicken, Southern Rock, and Southern Hospitality to name a few. But there is something that we have perfected in the South that I am so tired of...Southern Christianity.
It is a real good imitation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, in the South we think we are all Christians. Mainly because we all went to church at some point in our life...VBS, Sunday School, confirmation class. We were told about Jesus and we liked the story of God becoming man to die for us on the cross. We were told to pray a prayer, or go to a class and to believe. We choose to believe. So we decided to add Jesus to our life to make life better. That is Southern Christianity. It is about believing the story of Jesus and trying to live good. The tragedy is that you might have embraced Southern Christianity and missed the Gospel.
Southern Christianity is about adding Jesus to your life to make your life better, but the Gospel is about giving up your life to live for the pleasure and glory of Him. Southern Christianity is about looking like a Christian, and the Gospel is about living for Him with a fearlessness of what others think. Southern Christianity is about living the rest of your life with the right belief about Jesus, the Gospel is about a life long journey of being constantly changed. Southern Christianity is powerless, and the Gospel is transformational.
Southern Christianity just may be the best imitation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some may read this and think that I am a little fanatical, need to calm down, and don't be so extreme...maybe I am...but am I wrong?
21Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven -Matthew 7:21
Oct 19, 2009
Oct 5, 2009
brokeness
There is something so inviting and repelling about brokenness. On the one hand, we run from it. Maybe because we see brokenness as weakness and no one wants to be weak, or maybe because brokenness is acknowledging that we are out of answers. I don't know, but it is rarely people's favorite place to be.
However, there is also something inviting about brokenness. I think that there is something in us that knows that God is attracted to the brokenhearted. That he empowers those who he knows are powerless. The art of giving up can be the first step to being blown away by something awesome that God does. Brokenness is not a place of total defeat, but the first step to success.
I have been through a lot of things in my life...good and bad. The mix has been such that I live as a man broken before God. I struggle to believe that God can and will ever use me to impact others lives, I struggle accepting it when people indicate that God used something I said to impact them, I am blown away by what God has done at Piedmont, and I am convinced that my skills to screw things up is far greater than my skill to do it right.
I at times would like to shed this sense of brokenness, but at the same time I know that I am in the best place I can be. I think that greatness, real greatness, can not come without passing down the highway of brokenness.
However, there is also something inviting about brokenness. I think that there is something in us that knows that God is attracted to the brokenhearted. That he empowers those who he knows are powerless. The art of giving up can be the first step to being blown away by something awesome that God does. Brokenness is not a place of total defeat, but the first step to success.
I have been through a lot of things in my life...good and bad. The mix has been such that I live as a man broken before God. I struggle to believe that God can and will ever use me to impact others lives, I struggle accepting it when people indicate that God used something I said to impact them, I am blown away by what God has done at Piedmont, and I am convinced that my skills to screw things up is far greater than my skill to do it right.
I at times would like to shed this sense of brokenness, but at the same time I know that I am in the best place I can be. I think that greatness, real greatness, can not come without passing down the highway of brokenness.
Oct 1, 2009
Choose Life
Check out this verse;
"I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him (Deu. 30:19b)."
When I read this verse an application shot to my mind. I sensed that in my life right now the most important arena that I could apply this to is my attitude. My attitude at any given moment is the result of my choice. I choose my attitude.
God challenges me to "Choose life." Several times today I will have the opportunity to choose life or death in my attitude.
When I arrive at work am I going to embrace a negative attitude, or tell myself that today is a day that God gave me and I will look for Him in it? When the gossip begins around me will I join in, or tell myself that that is not what I am to be about today?
Your attitude that you choose today will effect every word, decision, emotion, and behavior. When you choose life in your attitude, the rippling effect is amazing.
So, right now, choose life.
"I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him (Deu. 30:19b)."
When I read this verse an application shot to my mind. I sensed that in my life right now the most important arena that I could apply this to is my attitude. My attitude at any given moment is the result of my choice. I choose my attitude.
God challenges me to "Choose life." Several times today I will have the opportunity to choose life or death in my attitude.
When I arrive at work am I going to embrace a negative attitude, or tell myself that today is a day that God gave me and I will look for Him in it? When the gossip begins around me will I join in, or tell myself that that is not what I am to be about today?
Your attitude that you choose today will effect every word, decision, emotion, and behavior. When you choose life in your attitude, the rippling effect is amazing.
So, right now, choose life.
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